I went to a productive rally, for once

The city of Chicago has made a bid for the 2016 Olympics. If that happens, some poor neighbourhoods are going to get turned upside down. A lot of the change is going to be, at the very least, inconvenient for those people. It could also be wholly detrimental, but there is a chance that they could see some long-term benefits.

So I tagged along with some other students to a rally about this today. It was held by a coalition of churches and other community organizations trying to make sure that the Olympics would in some way benefit some of the local (very poor) neighbourhoods. There are a bunch of demands: affordable housing, jobs for locals, and the like.

Today the focus was on a transit proposal the group had worked out, apparently in some detail. They had taken it around to the relevant authorities, and gotten shut down by Metra, a regional commuter rail service.

The rally was in a predominantly black church. Although it was mainly addressing a very particular political proposal, it was also billed as a MLK commemoration. I gotta say, a black church in Chicago, around MLK Day, with Obama about to be inaugurated -- that's a pretty encouraging place for a bleeding-heart liberal to be.

I get the impression that community organizing and churches are pretty much inseparable around those parts. Most of the rally was in the mode of a church service. Most of the main speakers were from churches, and there was lots of sermonizing -- focused on concrete social issues, which was great, and also a lot of cheerleading for Obama, which triggered mixed feelings. (A welcome reality check on this issue was provided by a Lutheran pastor, who noted that while MLK would surely have welcomed an Obama presidency, he hardly would have considered it the fulfilment of his dream.) And the music, well, say no more.

The political centerpiece of the rally was really well-orchestrated. One of the pastors gave a spiel about the work they'd been doing on the transit plan, and the obstacles they'd run into. A number of politicians lined up in front of the expectant crowd as the pastor talked up how grateful everyone was that the campaign had these allies in office. He turned up the rhetoric, building up the excitement in the crowd, and then asked the politicians to pledge, in unison, to get behind the transit plan, starting with the concrete act of writing a letter. They all agreed, and everyone burst into applause and cheers.

So those politicians got to feel like champions of the people. I'm sure it was an addictive feeling for them: getting honoured for doing the right thing. And that's pretty good motivation for them to follow through with their promises, and to continue to cooperate with these community groups. Meanwhile the people in the crowd got to feel empowered, which is pretty addictive, too. And that means they're likely to stay involved, and turn up at the next rally to encourage cooperative politicians to continue to do the right thing.

It's a brilliant form of activism. I left the rally feeling positively hopeful. It occurred to me that these activists are competent. This was refreshing.